Grubbs n Critters

January 2, 2015

How we roll on NYE

Bangkok: There is absolutely no excuse to not living it up or soaking up the spirit of celebration to usher the new year while living in one of the best cities in Asia when it comes to New Year’s Eve celebration.

Lively vibes, effervescent chaos and hedonistic living can be contagious.The malls are alive with music, festive decorations and bargains all around to lure people from all corners of the Bangkok and its vicinity to encourage them to contribute to the economy. The restaurants are bursting at the seams with eager diners throughout the day, that one has to make an advance reservation to secure a place at all. And, the streets in downtown Bangkok oozes profound excitement with much urgency as vehicles and pedestrians on foot make their way to shopping streets to soak up the camaraderie.

From fancy rooftop dinners, to the night markets as well as watching firework displays right in the heart of Bangkok or near the river and, the option to dance the night away , there are plenty of things to do on New Year’s Eve in Bangkok. No one would actually be coming home before 3 a.m on new year’s eve; that’s not just done. And it would be one of the best night anyone could ever had.

Only, we did none of that. All those happened in my previous life. That was life B.C (before children).

Instead, we stayed in after sending my parents off to the airport. And, after tucking in kids to bed way past their usual bedtime, we cleaned up, did some laundry, couched out in front of the TV, waited for midnight and then ushered the new year with Silver Bullet’s traditional olliebollen while we watched the remnants of the firework displays from our balcony which sort of looked like this:

The kids pretty much slept through all the thunderous fireworks that went on for a good half-hour, with no signs of being disturbed by the loud explosions nor by the din our neighbours were making.

We have had several similar new year’s eve since: quiet, sedated, low-key and well…boring. Even the Ollieballen were sugarless (we ran out of icing sugar!) But, considering that we barely even made it to midnight in our earlier years after children, we made a little improvement by staying up till almost 2 a.m. this time.All 2 hours more. Cool, huh! Our most exciting new year’s eve by far! It was a a big deal.

OK. OK. So we didn’t quite live it up, and we were far from soaking up the celebratory camaraderie that went on in downtown Bangkok along with 20 other million people on the streets. That said, I personally found the couch to be more compelling and being with my husband comforting. We are only missing a few good friends, and we’ll just have to wait for a few more years to party with the kids.

Our new year’s eve may be bland and our ollieballen, sugarless yet, in a weird, perhaps even lazy kind of way to go all out, we kind of prefer our new year’s eve that way. Sometimes, a little bland is good. There are now 364 days to sweeten-up the rest of the year.

Here’s some Olliebollen on us. Wishing you the sweetest rest of the year and don’t forget to sprinkle some of those sweetness as you please. 🙂

2014 into 2015

Category: Rant and Thoughts

[WARNING: THIS POST COMES WITH PROFANITIES. SKIP IT IF YOU FEEL YOU ARE GOING TO BE OFFENDED BY IT]

It’s that time of the year again where resolutions from last year are being accounted for, and new resolutions continue to be made yet again. That’s not typically me. N’UHH! I just…have never been one of those to make any New Year resolution. Just.Because.

But. I am one of those who like to close the year with some reflection. Lots of reflection – to account for where I have been, where I am at and where I am going. It is the time of the year when I ponder, I deliberate, I contemplate and I reminisce to understand my life in rewind and then trying to live it forward.

2014 has been one of my darkest years yet. It has been a monster of some roller-coaster ride as I found myself sink into the deepest and darkest abyss of purgatory wretchedness. It’s like I have been to hell and back, only to be condemned by the inferno of viscerous affliction while grasping for air as I try to make sense of my world, living in a nightmare.

This year, I have been on a journey. A journey so vicious and so tumultuous that it was hard to separate the woods from the trees. A journey so obnoxious, so disgraceful, so despairingly unexpected that it sucked the life out of me. A journey so sickeningly cruel and despicable that I question the virtue of fellow human species. A journey where my sense of being has taken several punishing, under-handed blows as I have stupidly played down my inner gut in my bid to uphold trust. A journey of pain, turmoil, deceit, betrayal and hate, and one that taught me that it doesn’t always pay to be too kind. A journey I do not wish upon anyone in this lifetime.

It has been a long, hard road and one that accelerated my life experiences and inner wisdom than I could have ever imagined. I experienced a deep-seated anger and loathing that I never thought I could harbour, yet in the process, I learnt about courage, strength, compassion and resilience more than I ever thought was possible. The learning curve was steep and if I thought strength of character is always about how much I can handle before I break, I never realise that strength of character is also about how much one can handle after being broken.

And I have been broken. Torn apart. Shredded. Mangled. Steam-rolled.

But, this is not a cry for help. Neither is it a sob story. Rather, this earmarks a personal memorandum; a signpost of a crossing in my personal life journey which I never want to go back to, and reminding me of how far I have come along.

In my world, Karma exists. It is not something I would recommend anyone to mess with Karma and its tidings; especially the very owner of a very malicious soul whose existence I am very aware of and am directing this message to.

Until then, my spirit is alive, ready to fight head-on. Thanks to all this experience, I have emerged stronger and I cannot be broken. FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU. I curse you and your life till the end of time and I curse your self-entitled, low, despicable life form whose existence has been nothing but a disgrace to the human race. Other than that, I wish you well with all the karma you have bestowed upon your drudgery good-self.

The slope I have been allotted to has been pretty slippery, and the experience has certainly changed me. It has changed the outlook I have of life, of people, of trust and of respect. I am still on the mend, trying hard to heal, trying not to stay stuck, and with it, an acquired wisdom beckons.

At a very personal level, 2014 has been quite the year of rude awakening for me. Never before have I been in such an urgency to close the year, wanting so badly for the nightmare to end. Despite what happened, I am reminded that I have other things to be thankful for as I am blessed that I still have a supportive, dedicated husband, two very beautiful, healthy rambunctious kids, 3 crazy cats tearing our house apart – without which, there’ll be no joy, as well as a decent career that keeps my mind sharp and one that takes me to places.

On top of that, I have you dear readers to thank for. Thank you for stopping by my site and tolerate my ramblings that are sometimes filled with profanities. Thank you for being a part of Grubbs ‘n Critter and I don’t think I can ever thank you enough for being on this journey with me.

2014 has been a year of reckoning, and as it finally comes to a close, let us all banish negativity away. Let us invite only good energies to encapsulate our lives, surging us ahead to reach for that light at the end of the tunnel. If like me, you have had a bad patch in your life, I hope you find the strength to move onward and forward…for the hardest part about moving forward, is not looking back.

Sending you love, light and a very blessed 2015.

Chicken Biryani

Category: Grubbecipes

Fancy a quick spiced pilaf?

While I am usually not one to be using ready -made spiced mix, I succumbed to this one just because the picture of the biryani on the packaging looks so authentic that it makes me drool! (I know, I’m so, so shallow, right!) What started as an impulse buy during one of my random grocery shopping at a local supermarket has turned out to be one of my best cheat-sheet recipe by far. The spice mix comes with a recipe at the back of the box. It has been tried, tested and I have, along the way made some modification to it for that little Grubbecipes touch.

Chicken Biryani

2015-07-13 16:20:43

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Ingredients

6-8 pieces of meat with bones
750 g Basmati Rice**
3-4 red shallots,sliced thin
2-3 red onions, cut up to be blended (my add-ons)
4-5 potatoes, peeled and quartered
3-4 pieces of cardamoms (my add-ons)
1 teaspoon fennel (my add-ons)
1 plain yoghurt
1-2 cm ginger
2 garlic
1-1.5 cups of ghee or Oil
2-3 green chillies, sliced (de-seed if you wish so)
1-2 lemons
Shan Biryani Mix (I got this from Villa Market in Bangkok, and have substituted the mutton for chicken)

Instructions

Blend cut-up red onions, ginger and garlic into a paste. Use 2-3 tablespoon of the blended ingredients and rub it all over the meat you are using. Set the meat aside for 10-15 minutes. Leave the remaining blended ingredients for later.
Heat ghee/oil in a pan and when it is hot enough, fry the sliced shallots till it gets a little browned
Add in cardamoms and fennel. Fry till it gives out a little fragrant
Add in the blended ingredients of onions, garlic and ginger that was set aside earlier. Stir fry or a few minutes
Add in the meat. Continue stir frying
When it gets a little dry, add in Shan Biryani Mix and yoghurt.. Mix them thoroughly, making sure that all parts of the meat is covered with the spice mix and stir fry for a few minutes
Add in 3-4 cups of water, followed by the potatoes. Cover and cook on low heat till the meat is completely tender.
Squeeze in the lemon, add the green chilies. Stir and remove from heat when the potatoes and meat are cooked.
Separately, rinse the Basmati rice**. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and boil the rice in a rice cooker.
When the rice is about halfway cooked, take out half to 3/4 of the rice and place it in a separate container. Then, add in the meat and potatoes into the rice that is left in the cooker. Spread the remaining rice that was taken out earlier back into the rice cooker over the meat curry.
Cover and continue to cook until the rice is tender. Add more water if the rice appears hard
Mix the rice and curry before serving. Any leftover curry can be served as a side dish.

Notes

Basmati Rice:I have learnt that cooking biryani should only be done with Basmati Rice as all other types of rice would make the rice lumpy and sticky . Doesn’t quite make a good texture with biryani.

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Enjoy!